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acting on it!
Budgets, Diversity and Plans!
Greetings!
Can it possibly be September already? Hard to believe it's fall and it seems we've not seen much summer this year. We do know however that many people are getting their children settled in school and beginning the hard-run that lasts from fall to the end of December in most companies, and that includes those nasty budgets.
In addition, there are conferences to attend, events on the calendar and many plans to be made. For companies, one of the most important tasks is to determine what kind of training they'll give to their employees to meet production and positively motivate their teams.
One of the oft missed, (and more often than not excluded), topic is that of diversity. Our guest writer this month is Joe Gerstandt, a leader in the field of diversity and someone I admire a great deal. I believe you will find it very helpful (actually necessary) in your leadershipo quest to plan for your business.
Enjoy!
Patti
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Ladies and Gentlemen Prepare Your Budgets!
It's that time of year again...Budgets! Here are 5 points to help you in preparation for creating those budgets.
- Identify potential leaders among the teams.
- Evaluate your customer service results.
- Evaluate your employee satisfaction surveys.
- Determine the technical needs of the organization.
- Check required certification needs of the business.
Keep in mind, you are forcasting for another year, what you did before will not necessarily work for what you need to do now. Putting the company first, remember to select those pieces that will improve growth, inspire and motivate your staff and offer consistantly great service to your customers.
Leadership and Customer Service training are two key components to feeding your bottom line. Happy employees are more productive, loyal and a better face to the customer than those poorly led or led without focus. |
Why Diversity Matters Today
By Joe Gerstandt
Diversity has always been important
for our organizations and our communities, but the reasons for its importance
are evolving. The business landscape is
changing, the workforce is changing, and how we create value is changing. These and other changes are making diversity
truly business critical today.
Unfortunately there are still a lot
of leaders wandering around the business world claiming that there is no
business case or that the business case is not clear. This fundamental
misunderstanding regarding the value of diversity is maybe the greatest
roadblock today preventing groups and organizations from benefiting from more
diversity.
This is not a comprehensive list,
but these are some of the leading factors making diversity and inclusion business
critical today:
New
competitive advantage:
for more and more organizations, industries and even communities the
greatest opportunity for competitive advantage is creativity and
innovation. While we seem to have bought into the idea of the lone,
eccentric genius as playing the leading role in innovation, there is
tremendous research saying that innovation happens at intersections...it
happens when difference collides. Different cultures, different
organizations, different professions...intersections. Diversity
is a key ingredient for innovation. (The
Medici Effect by Frans Johansson is a good read on this topic.)
Generational
transition:
There is no shortage of writing, thinking, talking and experting being
done regarding this issue. There has always been different
generations in the workforce and there always will be...part of what makes
it different today is the numbers. Regardless of which generations
are in the workforce and regardless of what we think we know about each
generation, we are approaching an unprecedented generational
transition. This needs to be fully understood before we start
worrying about what we know about this generation or that
generation. There is soon going to be a lot of volatility in
leadership and organizational cultures as many baby boomer leaders with
many years of experience and expertise will begin exiting the traditional
workforce. Organizations that successfully navigate this transition
will have a grasp on this transition, the differences and commonalities of
the generations involved and the flexibility required. (Generational Diversity in the Workplace
by Jamie Notter is a great primer for understanding these issues.)
New
workforce: The
demographics of the workforce are changing and will continue to
change. There are estimates that by the end of 2008, 70% of new
entrants into the workforce were women and People of Color. So if
you are an organization that is not good at attracting, engaging and
retaining women and People of Color, you are going to be competing for a
shrinking portion of the available talent. The workforce is also
changing in other ways with more employees today having dependent children
and/or dependent parents at home. (Leveraging the New Human Capital by
Burud and Tumolo provides valuable insights on how the workforce is
changing)
New
consumers: The
same demographic trends that are moving through the workforce are moving
through the overall buying population. Racial and ethnic minority
populations are currently experiencing much larger increases in buying
power than the overall population. Just as more organizations (and
communities) are going to need to be able to attract, engage and retain
more diversity in their workforce they are going to have to be able to do
the same regarding customers.
Better
problem solving / decision making: Under the right circumstances, groups that have
greater diversity (especially cognitive diversity) are better equipped to
solve complex problems and come to better decisions. We could use
some better decisions it would seem. (The Difference by Scott Page and
The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki are
great reads on this topic.)
Human
nature: We
are biased. We
should deal with it and stop working so hard to deny it. Even those
of us with the most shiny, happy intentions are biased and those biases
find a way to influence our thinking and decision making on a regular
basis. If we truly want to hire the best people and promote the best
people we need to be committed to reducing the impact of these
biases. Check out the Implicit Association Test sometime.
A different version of this article
has been previously published.
Joe
Gerstandt is a speaker, researcher and blogger focused on creating next
generation organizations and communities.
He works with Fortune 500 corporations, small non-profit organizations
and everything in between.
joe
gerstandt | next generation organizations and communities
inclusive culture + innovative practices + integral leadership
Want to learn more about Joe? Here are some great places to find him:
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About Strategic Sense Inc.
Strategic Sense shares Leadership, Customer Service, Plans of Action, Communication and Facilitation knowledge with companies who value their employees.Our customers care about strengths based leadership practices, customer service strategies that feed their bottom-line, plans of action for managers to define and reach their goals; and internal communication plans for keeping all employees on the same mission. |
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October 3, 2009
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"Diva and The Guy" A joint project with David Porter of BullsEye Leadership and Strategic Sense Inc. Announce their MOJO Teleseminar Series Learn more hereIf you are looking for a dynamic speaker for your event, contact us here about Patti's schedule.Strategic Sense uses SKYPE for one-on-one consultations! |
Patti's Quote
"Planning for the future includes the development of your people and your teams - if your budget does not reflect that, your planning is incomplete"
~Patti Dragland
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Many Thanks
Strategic Sense Inc is grateful for this month's contributor. Our thanks to Joe Gerstandt for highlighting clarity on Diversity.
Thanks to Susan Poirier of AceConcierge for her hard work and constant Virtual Assistant support both for the newsletter and her exceptional VA services for Strategic Sense Inc.
Please be kind to our environment and consider not printing this newsletter. Paper comes from trees, trees provide our oxygen and we all like breathing!
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